


there is a house in new orleans (they call the rising sun)

by hawksonfire



Category: Marvel
Genre: Alcohol, Awesome Clint Barton, Boys Kissing, Bucky Barnes Has Issues, Bucky Barnes Has Panic Attacks, Bucky Barnes Needs a Hug, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Clint Barton Is a Good Bro, Clumsy Clint Barton, Deaf Clint Barton, House Party, M/M, Natasha knows all, POV Bucky Barnes, Panic Attacks, Sassy Bucky Barnes, Sassy Clint Barton, Smol Bucky Barnes, Tol Clint Barton, background Carol/Maria, background Steve/Sam, background Val/Sif - Freeform, hand holding
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-08-23
Updated: 2019-08-23
Packaged: 2020-09-24 21:08:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,941
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20365108
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hawksonfire/pseuds/hawksonfire
Summary: Steve drags Bucky to a party, Clint drags Bucky outside, and Bucky drags Clint across a room. There's a lot of dragging.





	there is a house in new orleans (they call the rising sun)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Kangofu_CB](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kangofu_CB/gifts).

> HAPPY (BELATED) BIRTHDAY CB!!!!!!!! I HOPE YOU HAD AN AMAZING DAY AND I'M SORRY THIS IS LATE >.<

**Prompt: holding conversations with different people standing near each other at a party and reaching behind us to intertwine our hands**

**Bucky**

“Steve, I swear on all things holy, if you don’t chill the _ fuck _ out right this goddamn second -”

“Alright, Buck, jeez,” Steve grumbles, crossing his arms. “I’m just excited, is all. This is the first time you’ve come to a party since -” he cuts himself off abruptly, looking guilty.

Bucky rolls his eyes. “Since the accident, I know, I was there.” He nudges Steve’s shoulder. “Chill out, man, you’re gonna mess up my vibe.”

As expected, Steve barks out a laugh, eyes crinkling at the corners. “Your vibe? Buck, the only vibe you have is the one sitting in your nightstand drawer.” Bucky’s shove is harder this time. “Hey, watch it!” Steve darts over to the mirror and adjusts his hair, tongue peeking out from the corner of his mouth. As soon as he’s nearly perfected it, Bucky sneaks up behind him and messes it up again, snickering.

“Gettin’ all gussied up for your boyfriend, Stevie?” He teases, dancing away from Steve’s punch. The two men tease and snark at each other all the way to the house where the party is, and Bucky’s only a little pissed when he realizes that Steve’s kept him distracted so he won’t back out of the party. “Punk,” he grumbles, bumping Steve’s shoulder.

“Jerk,” Steve shoots back, “This’ll be good for you, Buck. You’ll see.” He marches up to the door and knocks, tossing a grin back at Bucky as they wait. The door swings open and pounding music flows out, making Bucky wince.

“Steve! Barnes! You made it!” Sam Wilson, party host, grins out at them. He pulls Steve inside and motions at Bucky, gesturing for him to shut the door behind him. “Fashionably late gonna be your thing now, Steve?” Sam says, and he leans down and kisses Steve on the cheek. Bucky makes a gagging noise and is promptly shooed away by Steve, who yanks his boyfriend into a deeper kiss - right in front of the door. 

Bucky rolls his eyes and dodges around them, heading for the snack table. He can feel his anxiety rising, so he’s not going to drink (not that he would’ve anyway, who knows what’s in the drinks here) and he just hopes that he can stick it out long enough so it’s not rude when he leaves. “Come here often?” Someone slides an arm through the crook of his elbow, and he flinches violently, turning to snap at them - and then abruptly relaxing when he sees the red hair and signature smirk of one Natasha Romanoff.

“First time,” Bucky says easily, squeezing her arm. 

The corner of her mouth quirks up, which from Natasha is basically a full out belly laugh, and she says, “There’s someone I want you to meet.”

“Really don’t feel up for it tonight,” Bucky says, but Natasha doesn’t stop towing him towards a group of people - and away from the snack table, Bucky mourns. “Natasha, seriously, I don’t -”

“This is Bucky,” Natasha says, ignoring his protests. “Be nice.” She releases his arm and promptly melts into the crowd, and honestly, Bucky shouldn’t be surprised that she can still do that, even after all these years of knowing her. 

Even _ after _ all the years of knowing her, he still has to swallow down the flare of anger he feels at Natasha not letting him make his own choices. “The fuck kind of name is Bucky?” A brunette peers at him over a solo cup of something alcoholic, and Bucky snorts. 

“Hell if I know, lady, ask my little sister.” The tension breaks when the brunette smiles at him and holds out her hand. 

“Sif. That’s Val, Maria, and Carol.” The other three women nod as their names are said, and Bucky nods back, shifting awkwardly on his feet. 

“So, how do you know Nat?” Maria asks. 

“We’ve been friends since we were kids,” Bucky answers, “Basically grew up together.”

“You must know Clint, then!” Val says excitedly, her face dropping when Bucky shakes his head. 

“Sorry, who?”

“Clint Barton,” Carol explains, “Nat started talking about him a couple months ago, but so far she hasn’t brought him to meet us.”

“Probably making sure he’s strong enough to withstand you four,” Bucky snorts as they all blink at him. “What, like I don’t know I’m being vetted for something? Grew up with her, remember?”

They stare at him for a minute or two. “For the record, I was against this whole idea,” Sif says finally, finishing off her drink. “I don’t think manipulating people is okay. C’mon babe.” She grabs Val’s hand and they walk away, leaving an awkward group of three behind them. 

“Shit, is everyone at this party queer?” Bucky says jokingly. He nearly chokes on his tongue when Carol rolls her eyes and entwines her fingers around Maria’s. “That would be a yes, then. Cool.”

“So, Barnes,” Maria says, eyeing him over her drink, “Which team do you play for?” Bucky raises an eyebrow. 

“I’m as gay as they come, baby,” he laughs.

“I hate to admit it,” Carol sighs, “But you really should meet Clint. Nat may be irritating, but she’s got good taste. You two would work well together.”

“He ever shows up, I’m cool with a conversation,” Bucky shrugs. They exchange idle chatter for a while, talking about nothing in particular. Bucky learns that Maria’s head of HR at a big tech company and Carol’s in training to become a pilot. 

“There you are!” Natasha appears at Bucky’s side, an annoyed look on her face like he’s not exactly where she left him. “Come with me.”

“Pass,” Bucky says shortly. Normally he wouldn’t be so rude, but talking to Carol and Maria has only barely managed to keep his rising anxiety in check, so he can’t be bothered to spare any thoughts for politeness.

Natasha narrows her eyes at him, then vanishes into the crowd. Carol whistles. “You got balls, Barnes.”

“I’ll toast to that,” Maria says, raising her cup. They finish their drinks toasting Bucky’s brass balls, then head off in the direction of the drink table, leaving Bucky alone in a crowded room full of strangers he doesn’t know. Void of distractions, his heart rate rises, his breath quickens and right as his vision starts to grey out, someone grabs his hand and tows him across the room, leading him outside where he falls to his knees and gulps down the cool air. No one’s touching him, but he can feel whoever dragged him out here staring at him, and he desperately hopes it wasn’t Steve.

“Take a picture, it’ll last longer,” he bites out bitterly, lifting his head towards the sky and breathing deeply. 

“Nah,” a male voice says, “Not in the habit of capturing people in a vulnerable moment.” A pair of legs appear in his line of sight, and Bucky follows them up, up, up - until they reach a torso that’s barely contained by a threadbare purple shirt with a target on it. “See anything you like?” The guy says with a wry grin when Bucky (finally) makes it to his face. 

Bucky’s cheeks burn. “Sorry,” he mumbles, turning away and looking back up at the night sky.

“Because I do,” the guy continues, like Bucky hadn’t spoken. “You’re pretty gorgeous, you know that?”

Bucky scoffs. “Sure, pal. I’m gorgeous and you’re the Queen of Sheba.”

“How did you know?” Purple Shirt gasps. “I’m in disguise,” he whispers, and it’s so unexpected that it startles a snort out of Bucky. “There we go,” Purple Shirt says, and he holds out a hand. “Clint.”

Bucky slams his hand into his forehead. “God _ damn _ it, Natasha,” he swears viciously.

“Don’t tell me,” Clint sighs wearily, dropping his hand, “You’re James.”

Bucky grimaces. “Bucky.”

“Literally every person I have spoken to tonight has said that I should meet you,” Clint says, flopping onto his back. 

“Yeah, ditto,” Bucky groans. “I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if Natasha set up this whole party just so we could meet.” He stops. Thinks that over. Looks at Clint, who’s staring back at him with a look of disbelief on his face. 

“She wouldn’t,” he says.

Bucky sighs. “You and I both know she would.”

“I hate when she does this,” Clint mutters, brow furrowing. “I’m an adult, I can make my own decisions. I can talk to a beautiful guy on my own, thank you very much.”

“It’d be worse if she wasn’t nearly always right,” Bucky points out. 

Clint deflates. “Yeah,” he sighs. “I love her, but she can be a pain in the ass sometimes.” Bucky snorts, flopping back onto the grass with Clint. 

“You can say that again,” he says quietly. Laying there, staring up at the starry sky with a stranger by his side, Bucky feels... almost peaceful. And then the screen door slams open, destroying their solitude and sending Bucky’s pulse skyrocketing again. He’s on his feet within seconds, heart racing as a drunken couple stagger out the door, down the steps, and veer into the backyard - probably to fuck in the pool shed, but Bucky’s not judging. He’s fucked in worse places.

“You okay?” Clint asks, still sprawled out on the ground. 

“Sorry, it’s...” Bucky waves a hand, trailing off.

Clint shakes his head. “Nah, man, I get it. Don’t worry about it.” They go silent once again, and as Bucky’s heart rate drops to something less concerning, Clint asks, “You think you’re ready to go back inside?” Seeing Bucky’s hesitation, he adds, “I can stay close, if you want. You’re, like, the only cool person at this party anyway.”

Bucky opens his mouth to tell Clint that it’s fine, he doesn’t want to ruin the party. “That would be nice,” he says instead, blinking at himself. 

Clint perks up and grins at him, propping himself up on his elbows. “Yeah?” he says, like Bucky’s going to change his mind.

“Sure,” Bucky says, “You might be the only person here who hasn’t abandoned me or pissed me off, so... why not, right? Plus, you’re kind of cool.”

“Only kind of?” Clint pouts up at him.

Bucky snorts. “It’s gonna take a lot more for you to be more than kind of, pal.”

Clint does this thing with his arms and his stomach and pushes himself up fluidly, and Bucky’s gonna blame his sudden case of dry mouth on the panic attack he nearly just had. “Guess that means we’ll be spending a lot more time together, huh?” He winks and heads back inside, stopping at the door and looking back at Bucky, one eyebrow raised. “You comin’ or what?”

Bucky shakes his head to snap himself out of it - whatever it is - and follows Clint inside. The noise and stench of alcohol hit him like a punch to the face as soon as he steps inside, and all the panic that Clint washed away comes bubbling back up and Bucky nearly gags on it. “I can’t -” he starts, stumbling back towards the door and the cool, fresh, unoppressive air outside.

Clint grabs his hand and rubs little circles with his thumb soothingly. “It’s okay, Bucky, I’ll be right here, I swear.” He’s not sure why that makes him feel better, but it does, so he takes a breath and focuses on the warmth of Clint’s hand in his. It takes him a few seconds, but he pulls himself together enough that he can drop Clint’s hand. Something flashes over Clint’s face when he does, but it goes too fast for Bucky to identify it.

Catching a glimpse of Steve over at the snack table, Bucky beelines toward him, cutting a path through the crowd easily. “Thanks for ditching me, asshole,” he says, punching Steve in the shoulder. He hears Clint strike up a conversation with some guy at the table - they’re talking about dogs, of all things.

“I ditched you?” Steve says incredulously. “I was saying hello to my boyfriend and when I turned around you were gone! How is that me ditching you?”

Bucky scoffs. “Right. Remind who told you about this party again?”

“Sam,” Steve says.

“And who told Sam?”

Steve opens his mouth, then flushes and snaps it shut. If Bucky wasn’t sure that Steve had something to do with this before, he definitely is now. He shakes his head again. “Great. Thanks, Steve. What happened to letting me make my own decisions?”

“That’s not - I didn’t mean -” Steve flounders for a response that won’t get him punched, and he finally settles on, “I just wanted you to be happy, Buck.”

Bucky rolls his eyes, ruthlessly shoving down the panic he can feel rising in the back of his throat. “Yeah, well how about next time you just tell me there’s someone you want me to meet?” He twitches violently when a hand slides into his and gives it a squeeze, and the only reason he doesn’t whip around and remove whoever it is - violently - is that the thumb of the offending hand rubs a small circle into the skin of Bucky’s hand right above his knuckles, and Bucky recognizes the motion as Clint’s. 

“Would you have come?” Steve challenges, raising an eyebrow.

“I don’t know, Steve, but you never gave me the chance to find out,” Bucky says, frustrated, “You just made the decision - the _ choice _ \- without even asking me. Haven’t I had enough of that?”

Steve blinks at him. “I... I never thought of it like that,” he admits. 

Bucky shakes his head. Voice softening at the look on Steve’s face, he says, “I know.” Clint is still rubbing soothing little circles onto his hand, and Bucky takes strength from that gesture. “Just, let me make my own choices from now on, yeah?”

Steve nods. “Yeah. I’m really sorry, Buck.”

Bucky rolls his eyes. “Whatever, punk.”

Steve shoves his shoulder. “Jerk,” he says, grinning over the rim of his cup.

Bucky snorts. “I think I’m gonna head out for the night.”

“You want me to come with you?” Bucky hates that he kind of wants to say yes, but he knows Steve hasn’t been out to a party in a while and he doesn’t want to ruin his fun.

“Nah, I’ll be okay,” Bucky says, smirking. “Go have fun with your boyfriend.”

“Alright, I’ll see you at home!” Steve says, and he hugs Bucky quickly before disappearing into the crowd to find Sam. Bucky sighs and heads towards the door, realizing belatedly that he’s still holding onto Clint’s hand. 

“Sorry,” he mutters, letting go quickly.

“S’okay,” Clint says, smiling at him. “I didn’t mind.” He shyly bumps his hand back into Bucky’s and Bucky hesitantly wraps his fingers around Clint’s. “Can I walk you home?” Clint blurts, and his cheeks flush an adorable shade of pink.

“I’d like that,” Bucky says quietly. Clint grins down at him - how did he not notice how much taller than him Clint was? - and they head out the door, their intertwined hands swinging between them. 

“So,” Clint says, “How long you been friends with Steve?”

Bucky snorts. “Too fucking long, in my opinion. My family took him in after his mom died, so he’s my brother in all but blood. He’s a stubborn bastard, but I love ‘im.”

Clint laughs, and Bucky’s breath catches in his throat when he sees how it lights up Clint’s whole face. “Yeah, it’s like that with me and Tasha, too. She’s bossy and I hate that she’s always right, but I don’t know what I’d do without her.”

“We’re pretty lucky, huh,” Bucky hums. Clint nods. “So, what should we tell Natasha when she asks how her plan worked?”

Clint blinks. “Which plan? The setting us up plan?”

“No, the other plan we both know about.” Bucky rolls his eyes and Clint flushes.

“I dunno, what do you want to tell her?”

Bucky bites his lip, shooting a glance at Clint out of the side of his eye. “Well, it’ll make her insufferable, but I’d like to tell her it worked,” he says softly. Next thing he knows, Clint’s hand is yanked out of his as the other man whips around to look at him and promptly trips over his own feet and falls on his ass on the side of the road.

“Really?” Clint says incredulously. “But you’re so...” He gestures at Bucky vaguely. 

“What?” Bucky snaps defensively. 

“Gorgeous,” Clint says simply, and all the fight just drains out of Bucky.

“You ain’t too bad yourself, handsome,” he says when his brain comes back online. “So? Wanna tell Natasha that her plan worked?”

Clint bounces back onto his feet, grinning. It’s adorable, really. His hair is all mussed from his fall and he’s got a little crooked grin on his face - Bucky’s halfway in love already. “I’m on board if you’re on board,” he says breathlessly, moving into Bucky’s space. Bucky tenses in preparation for the panic he knows is coming - except that it doesn’t. Somehow, Clint has managed to wiggle his way past every single one of Bucky’s walls and is now staring at him, completely bare and vulnerable. 

It’s not a bad feeling, per se, but it’ll take some getting used to. “I’m pretty sure I’m on board,” Bucky says and then Clint’s lips are on his and Bucky completely forgets about everything else except for that.

“I don’t even care that Tasha’s gonna hold this over me for the rest of my life,” Clint breathes, his breath mingling with Bucky’s, “It’s worth it.”

And yeah, Bucky thinks. It is.

**Author's Note:**

> follow me on the [ tweets](https://twitter.com/candycanedarcy)
> 
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